XCOM 2 is the sequel to XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the 2012 award-winning strategy game of the year.
Earth has changed. Twenty years have passed since world leaders offered an unconditional surrender to alien forces. XCOM, the planet’s last line of defense, was left decimated and scattered. The aliens rule Earth, building shining cities that promise a brilliant future for humanity on the surface, while concealing a sinister agenda and eliminating all who dissent from their new order.
Now, a force gathers once again to stand up for humanity. Always on the run, and facing impossible odds, the remnant XCOM forces must find a way to ignite a global resistance and eliminate the alien threat once and for all.
- XCOM on the Run: Take command of the Avenger, an alien supply craft converted to XCOM’s mobile headquarters. New open-ended gameplay lets you decide where to guide your strike team, how to grow popular support, and when to combat enemy counter-operations.
- Recruit Resistance Fighters: Five soldier classes, each with its own skill tree, let you create specific soldiers for your tactical plan.
- Tactical Guerrilla Combat: New gameplay systems offer more tactical flexibility in combat. Use concealment to ambush enemy patrols. Loot enemies for precious gear and artifacts. Rescue VIPs and save fallen comrades by carrying them to the extraction point.
- A New Breed of Enemy: A diverse cast of enemies from powerful new alien species to the ADVENT, enforcers of the alien regime, offer a distinct tactical challenge.
- Research, Develop, and Upgrade: Build rooms on the Avenger to give XCOM new capabilities on the battlefield. Research, develop, and upgrade weapons and armor to fit your preferred tactics.
- Each Mission Is a Unique Challenge: Go on missions around the world, from wildlands to the heart of the alien-controlled megacities, to the depths of alien installations. There are virtually infinite combinations of maps, missions, and goals.
Unpopular opinion: I loved the first one. But IMO, by forcing turn limits upon the player they’ve ruined the second game’s gameplay for me.
The developers bragged in a promotional video that this time limit mechanic forces the player to “take rewarding risks”. But for me, it just felt like I’m forced to dumbly throw my precious troops away into ambushes and bad engagements in a game that is supposed to be about careful tactical planning, using scouting, terrain and tactics to your advantage to minimize losses. For crying out loud, the story is about you conducting guerrilla tactics against a more powerful enemy. You absolutely should be allowed to covertly place your pieces into key locations before starting combat. It resulted in having to replay every mission twice after you memorized where the enemies were and know where the ambush points are which makes for anything but an enjoyable game experience. I tried to play that game twice but always ended up uninstalling it after a few early missions because how frustrating and unfair it felt. The game also kept getting locked up in game breaking glitches and crashes which didn’t help.
I really wish they did away with that turn limit and adopted the gun mechanic that Phoenix Point has. That would be a fantastic game.
I think it’s just a very difficult game, and there’s absolutely no shame in turning the difficulty down until you get the hang of it. I read that the purpose of the time limits is to stop you being overcautious and moving one soldier while leaving all the others on overwatch.